How to Make a Tulip Easter Basket

The tulip basket makes a lovely centerpiece, or you can give it filled with springtime bulbs and gardening tools for the gardener in your life. You can make this basket with an 8-inch swing handle or an apple basket handle.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Basket Dyes
• Basket Handles
• Basket Reeds
• Binding Canes
• Dressmaker's Measuring Tapes
• Flat Hobby Paintbrushes
• Seagrass
• Stencil Brushes
• Stencil Paints
• Stencils
• RIT Dyes
• Acrylic Paints
• Clothespins
• Ice Picks
• Old Scissors
• Paper Towels
• 5-gallon Plastic Food Grade Buckets
• Awl
• Side Cutting Pliers

Preparing the Basket Materials

1. Dye a long piece of 1/4-inch flat oval reed for the curls. The curls should match the color of your tulips. See "How to Dye Reed" under Related eHows.
2. Cut 10 pieces of 1-inch reed 22 inches long (for the spokes of the basket's bottom and sides).
3. Cut 8 pieces of 1/2-inch reed 34 inches long (for the weavers, which go between the spokes to form the sides of your basket).
4. Cut 1 piece of 1-inch reed 34 inches long (for the stenciling band).
5. Cut 2 pieces of 1/2-inch reed 34 inches long (for the basket rim at the top of your basket).
6. Cut 1 piece of sea grass 32 inches long (for the top of the basket).
7. Use binding cane to lash the rim of the basket together.
8. Soak the reed and cane in lukewarm water until pliable. This will help prevent the reed from cracking while you work with it.
9. Gather supplies for your tulips - paint, brush, cup of water, paper towels and a tulip stencil.

Building the Basket

10. Find the smooth side of the reed: Bend a piece of soaked reed - the wrong side will be rough and splintery.
11. Lay five pieces of the 22-inch-long reed on a table with the wrong side up. Place the pieces vertically toward you.
12. Weave one 22-inch piece horizontally over and under the vertical pieces.
13. Leave a 1/4-inch square space between the vertical and horizontal spokes.
14. Weave the next piece under and over (the opposite of how you wove the previous piece). This is what will make your base sturdy.
15. Continue weaving all the spoke pieces until the base measures 6 inches by 6 inches.
16. Fold each spoke toward the center of the basket. This will crease the spokes so that you can start to weave the sides.
17. Place one weaver behind a spoke with the right side facing out.
18. Clip in place with a clothespin.
19. Weave around the basket using the in-front, behind-spoke method. Do not square the corners - leave them rounded.
20. Tie off the weaver: Overlap two or three spokes at the beginning, trim excess reed, and leave the end of the weaver behind a spoke. This way you won't be able to see the ends of the reed on the outside of your basket.
21. Start the next weaver on the opposite side of the basket. Remember to do the opposite "over-under" weaving with this weaver.
22. Repeat steps 17 through 21 for the next three weavers. You should have five weavers in place.
23. Pull all the weavers toward the base to tighten the sides of your basket.
24. Weave the 1-inch stencil band using steps 17 through 21.
25. Weave three more weavers following steps 17 through 21.
26. Pull all the weavers toward the base. Your basket should be approximately 6 inches tall.

Finishing the Basket

27. Trim the inside spokes even with the top of the basket.
28. Fold the outside spokes inside the basket.
29. Use an ice pick or awl to tuck the folded spokes under the second weaver from the top of the basket.
30. Position the swing handle on the middle spoke, leaving two spokes on each side of the handle.
31. Push the basket handle ears under the top two or three weavers.
32. Place the rim pieces of reed along the top of the basket - one on the inside and one on the outside of the basket.
33. Clip in place with clothespins.
34. Place the sea grass on the top of the basket rim and clip into place. Sea grass makes decorative filler for the top of your basket rim.
35. Use a long piece of binding cane to lace the rim.
36. Poke the end of the cane under the weavers at the beginning ends of the rim pieces and sea grass.
37. Take the other end of the cane and, going from the inside to the outside of the basket, poke the end between the rim and the last weaver and between the spokes.
38. Go over the top of the basket to the inside, between the spokes, and under the rim. This is like a whipstitch in sewing.
39. Continue steps 37 and 38 around the rim of the basket.
40. Lace completely around the basket to the beginning, and overlap the lacing at the beginning by about 1 inch.
41. Trim any excess overlap of the reed rim and sea grass.
42. Tighten the cane and secure the end with a clothespin.
43. Turn and lace backward around the basket. This will make the lacing look like an "X."
44. Tie off the cane - overlap about an inch over the start; tuck the end of the cane under the rim and two weavers, and clip the excess cane.
45. Let the basket dry before you decorate it.
46. Make curls using the dyed 1/4-inch flat oval on the third weaver. To make the curls, see "Decorate an Easter Basket with Curls" under Related eHows.
47. Lay the tulip stencil on the 1-inch band; hold securely; and apply paint with a small brush.

Tips & Warnings

• You can adjust the size of your basket by changing the spacing between the vertical and horizontal spokes. Leave at least a 1/4-inch space between the spokes for easier access for the "weavers."
• The sides of this basket will be rounded, with a square base.
• Use the over-one, under-one method - even when making the transition from the base to the sides. If you did over-one, under-one on the base, do the opposite when you start the first weaver: under-one, over-one.